PRO FOOTBALL

PRO FOOTBALL; Brown Disposes of His Disposable Income

By BILL PENNINGTON

Published: May 10, 1999

The National Basketball Association has suffered through a long, antagonistic labor fight this season and glumly weathered the retirement of the matchless Michael Jordan. Soon, however, it could face truly bad news.

Giants running back Gary Brown has almost run out of things to buy at the N.B.A. Store in midtown Manhattan. This is a serious, bottom-line issue.

A big fan of the league, who likes to impersonate his basketball heroes in pickup basketball games, Brown has spent about $10,000 lately in a zealous pursuit of authentic apparel for each of the league's 29 teams.

Game jerseys retailing at $120, shorts at $95, and warm-up jackets at $90 -- not to mention $55 warm-up tear-away pants and $60 shooting shirts -- Brown has them all, for every team but a few.

And he has his eye on completing the set. Then the complete uniform for the entire league would be in Gary Brown's closet.

''We're always glad to see him come into the store,'' Steve Alic, the N.B.A.'s coordinator of marketing communications, said of Brown last week. ''But we're a little nervous. He's pretty close to having one of everything. And when he does that, it's going to hurt us more than losing Jordan.''

''You have to understand, I grew up in Williamsport, Pa., I've never seen a store like that,'' he said.

Brown first visited the store in October last year.

''I was a little in awe, I didn't buy too much,'' Brown said. ''The next couple of times it was about $1,000 each visit. Now, I go in there, point and say: 'I need that, that, and that.' ''

Brown's love of the N.B.A. runs deep. He was the Giants' leading rusher last season with 1,063 yards, expanding his National Football League career-rushing total to 4,123 yards. But he would like to have been a pro basketball player.

''I would have had to be 6-foot-5 instead of what I am, 5-foot-10,'' said Brown, who is also 230 pounds.

That does not stop him from doing a little fantasy pickup game impersonating in the off season -- with authentic wear, of course.

''If I'm going out to play one day and I feel like being Larry Johnson,'' Brown said. ''Then I'll put on my Larry Johnson jersey and all the other stuff. I'll be Larry Johnson that day. Next day, maybe it's Antoine Walker. Next day, Kevin Garnett.''

When Brown is not wearing or adding to his hoop dreams wardrobe, he is working out four days a week at Giants Stadium during the most comfortable off season he has spent in several years.

He will be heading to Giants training camp on July 29 as the established starter at running back -- the first time he goes into camp as a starter since 1994 when he was coming off a 1,000-yard rushing season with the Houston Oilers.

And yet, Brown, 29, knows the Giants drafted two running backs last month, Ohio State's Joe Montgomery and Northwestern's Sean Bennett. He hears that people around the league have a way of belittling his talents even though he has gained 2,008 yards in the past two seasons, averaging 4 yards a carry. He hears when it is said he does not have breakaway speed. He hears that the Giants need a dominant running back.

He gets tired of it.

''Of course, if somebody tells you that stuff enough you get tired of hearing it,'' Brown said. ''But I say, look at the numbers. I'm productive. People say I'm slow, but if you watch tape, I run by people.

''I may not look like I'm moving, but you look up and I've gained 7 yards, or 15 yards.''

Brown, a stocky, between-the-tackles back, thinks his game may never be completely appreciated in part because he isn't elusive in a classic sense.

''Look, I'm not graceful but if I get in front of you, you're not going to catch me,'' he said. ''Everybody wants Barry Sanders who nobody can touch or catch, but there aren't 31 Barry Sanders out there. I just want somebody to say, you know, he's a pretty good running back.''

Brown plans to hold his starting job this summer -- despite the competition from the rookies and Tiki Barber -- and help an offense the Giants are desperately trying to resurrect from the basement of the league.

First, though, in the waning months of this off season, a few more visits to the N.B.A. Store.

''I'm not maxed out because I'm still short on the sets for Orlando, Phoenix, Philly and Indianapolis,'' he said.

And when he goes an N.B.A. 29 for 29? ''Well, there are teams that change their uniforms every year,'' Brown said, grinning at the thought. ''I've got to keep up.''

Photo: Giants running back Gary Brown lounging with only a small sample of some of his favorite N.B.A. apparel. (Phil Marino for The New York Times)